


Flutter

by Star55



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Gen, Genderswap, Girl Direction, girl!Harry, girl!Liam - Freeform, girl!Louis, girl!Niall, girl!Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 14:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2655413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star55/pseuds/Star55
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Nah, see, you’ve got it wrong, Liam,” Niall starts. “Even I don’t think about <i>boys</i>. I think about <i>food</i>. What is so good about boys that isn’t better about food? Or pizza, even?” Thank god for Niall, Louis thinks.</p>
<p>Or the one where they're teenage girls and Louis likes Harry. Liam likes boys. Niall loves pizza only. And Zayn loves drawing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flutter

**Author's Note:**

> My addition for the [1D smut free ficathon](http://1dsmutfree.tumblr.com).

“ _Why_ are your feet always so cold?” Louis asks, shoving Harry’s feet off her calf from where they’re pressed against her under the covers of the bed. Harry giggles. She _giggles_ and presses them against Louis’ calves even harder.

Louis sits up and bats her feet away. Seriously. She’s dealing with a _child_ , clearly.

“You’re _warm_ ,” Harry replies. “And you’re my best friend, you’re meant to warm me up.”

Louis huffs. “I don’t remember _that_ clause in the contract.” But she lets Harry put her feet back on her legs none the less. It’s not because Harry is cute. Of course not. Harry’s a thirteen year old girl, with chubby cheeks, big green eyes, and too much curly hair. Louis is _not_ endeared at all. She’s fifteen. She’s practically an adult already. Her birthday is in three weeks’ time, and she’ll be _sixteen_ then. There will be no time for sharing beds with thirteen year olds who like to put their cold feet on Louis’ thighs. No matter how it makes Louis’ stomach flutter whenever Harry looks at her like that.

Nope. No time at all.

Harry pushes her hair out of her face and she moves so she’s sharing Louis’ pillow. This girl seriously has no concept of personal space. 

“What?” Louis asks, trying to sound as put out as possible but Harry’s face is impossibly close to hers like this.

“My hands are cold too,” Harry replies innocently. Her hands are suddenly on Louis’ stomach, up her sleep shirt and _tickling_ her. Louis absolutely does not squeal.

She squeals a little bit. She wiggles back as far away from Harry as she can but she’s on the edge of the bed and any further, she’ll fall off. She bats Harry’s hands away, trying to catch her breath and get comfortable again. Sleepovers with Harry are always entertaining but this is just _doing_ things to Louis’ stomach, making it flutter around every time Harry so much as looks at her.

“You’re a _menace_ ,” Louis says, trapping Harry’s hands between her own. Harry just grins and laces their fingers together.

“Cuddle me?” she asks sweetly, already burrowing her way into Louis’ arms. Her hair makes its way into Louis’ mouth and she splutters, trying to use her chin to push it away since her hands are still firmly trapped in Harry’s grasp. 

“Go to sleep, child,” Louis says without heat. In fact, her tone is quite fond.

She doesn’t know what this girl is doing to her but it has to stop.

Harry falls asleep pretty quickly, which Louis is thankful for. She lies awake for hours, wondering when things changed. She was a normal fifteen year old girl who probably played too much footie, had too many sisters and a best friend whom she couldn’t live without. Everything about that was normal, in Louis’ mind.

She and Harry had been best friends since Harry was born. Or so that’s what their mums said. Louis just knows she can’t think of a time in her life where Harry wasn’t in it, so they’re probably right. 

She remembers pushing Harry on the swing when she was seven and Harry was five and hearing Harry’s peals of laughter, her excitement and happiness infectious to the point where Louis didn’t even mind that she didn’t get a turn on the swing at all. She remembers Harry kissing her grazed knees better when she slid too hard on the grass after doing a spectacular tackle while playing footie. She remembers Harry being there when each and every one of Louis’ sisters were born and the house became more and more crowded with girls, leaving her dad being the only male around. 

Harry was there when Louis got her first period and she had held Louis while she cried and moaned that it would get in the way of footie and how was she supposed to become the first female striker of Manchester United if she had her _period_? 

Even at nine, Harry was far wiser than Louis was. She had taken Louis’ hand and said that even though she didn’t understand what a period was, she knew it wasn’t something that Louis should let hold her back from anything. Louis had sniffled and agreed and hugged Harry.

It was three years later that she returned the favour to Harry, cuddling her when Harry shyly mumbled that she got her first period. They had been bundled up in blankets on Louis’ bed, taking turns in reading the new Spider-Man comic that had just come out when Harry said she had to go to the loo and when she had come back, her face was ashen and her expression sad. Louis had given her supplies and new underwear and told Harry she was there for her if she needed help.

That night, when they had snuggled under the blankets, Harry asked Louis in a scared voice if it meant she wasn’t going to be able to be on the swimming team any more. Louis repeated Harry’s words from years earlier back at her – telling her that she shouldn’t let having a period hold her back from doing anything. Harry had grinned at her and curled into Louis’ side, her nose pressed into the side of Louis’ neck and she had fallen asleep instantly. 

Louis still isn’t completely sure when her stomach started doing that weird fluttering thing around Harry that it had been for a while now. She doesn’t think that Harry looks any different. Louis has grown a little taller but so has Harry. Louis hopes that she remains taller than Harry, just so she can feel like her protector. 

Things with Harry haven’t really changed, Louis thinks. They’re still best friends. They still have sleep overs and share the bed and read comics to each other. Louis had started noticing just how pretty Mary Jane and Pepper Potts were and she wondered if Harry thought the same. Her stomach flutters whenever Harry smiles at Louis as they read together, the image of her smile ingrained on the backs of Louis’ eyelids. 

It started a few months ago when Louis realised that the fluttering feeling in her stomach was the feeling that girls talked about in movies and on televisions shows. It was the thing she read about in some of Harry’s young adult books. She wasn’t sure what exactly to do with this information, though. It wasn’t something she could just tell anyone about.

After realising what the fluttery feeling meant, Louis started to wonder if she got that with all girls, or if it was just Harry. So she did some research. She was so glad that she knew how to delete the browser history off the internet on the family computer because after what she saw, she _definitely_ knew she liked girls more than boys. It had left her feeling extremely hot and even more embarrassed as she had headed up to bed, desperately hoping that no one found out before she was ready to tell anyone. 

Keeping it from Harry was just as hard. She had just discovered that she liked Harry the same way that Peter Parker liked Mary Jane and it wasn’t something she felt strong enough to talk about just yet. So she kept it to herself and hoped that Harry didn’t pick up on any changes between them. Which was harder now that Harry had started reading young adult books, claiming that because she’s thirteen now, that she _is_ a young adult. Louis just lets her go and hopes that Harry doesn’t find the trilogy of young adult books that she has for Harry for Christmas at the back of her wardrobe. She likes doing anything she can to make Harry happy. 

She likes when Harry’s face lights up when she tells Louis parts of the novels she’s reading, her voice slow like she’s savouring every single word she’s speaking. Louis could listen to her talk for hours. Anyone else talking too much annoys her, though. Especially her sisters. They’re all so young and demanding. They always want to come and play footie whenever Louis does and they hide her football every time as well until their mum tells the girls to give it back.

Harry watches every single match that Louis plays. She often makes posters to hold up and is obnoxiously loud when she cheers Louis on. The other girls in the team don’t understand it because they all tease Louis about having a best friend who is an embarrassing thirteen year old. Like _they_ weren’t thirteen just two years beforehand. 

Niall, who is a little older than Harry, at fourteen already, is Louis’ team’s goal keeper. She’s quite amazing and she’s got really fast reflexes. She and Louis became fast friends when Niall had moved to Doncaster the year before. She had just plonked herself down next to Louis and started talking to her like they had been friends all of their lives rather than having just met. Louis likes that about her.

Liam, one of the footie team’s defenders is a good friend of theirs as well. She has been on the team with Louis for three years now and they all train together whenever they can, having mess around matches just to pass the time in boring old Doncaster. She was the only girl apart from Louis who actually wanted to be on a football team. It was their joint effort that eventually got a proper team set up with girls from all over Doncaster coming to join in.

Then there’s Zayn, the girl Louis absolutely hated when she was twelve. She doesn’t even know _why_ she hated Zayn but she did. Now, she would say that Zayn is her second best friend out of everyone. They both share a love for comics and whenever Harry isn’t allowed to go to the comic book shop, Zayn goes with her and they get the newest Spider-Man or Iron Man comics and sit at the park, reading them. Zayn doesn’t play footie, though. She’ll join in on mess around matches, like Harry does, but Zayn likes to draw more than she likes to play sport. 

Louis just doesn’t get why people don’t want to play footie – it’s the best sport in the world, in her mind.

Harry usually sleeps over on a Friday night and then they go and play footie at the park on the Saturday to get ready for whatever match they have to play on the Sunday. Saturday nights, Louis usually spends at Harry’s house, if she’s allowed, and then they walk to Niall’s house and go to the footie field together. It’s the easiest way to do it, Louis thinks. 

When they get to the park the next morning after Harry and Louis have had breakfast, Liam is already jogging around with Niall whose laughter carries over to them, making Louis smile. Zayn is sitting against a tree, her sketchbook in hand, and a look of pure concentration on her face. 

“I’m going to sit with Zayn for a bit,” Harry says. “I think I ate too much at breakfast.”

“You did, little pig,” Louis replies fondly. Harry swats at her arm and skips off to sit next to Zayn, her curls bouncing behind her as she does. 

With a shake of her head, Louis turns her gaze away from Harry and jogs over to where Liam and Niall are. She falls into step easily with them and lets whatever story Niall is telling wash over her. 

“What about you, Tommo?” Niall asks. 

“Huh?” Louis wonders, glancing over at them. They slow to a walk, heading towards Harry and Zayn, who are giggling over something that Zayn is showing Harry in her sketchbook. Something hot coils in Louis’ stomach as she watches them and she feels herself frowning in their direction.

“Liam and I were talking about Liam’s sister going out with a boy in her year,” Niall replies. “Do you think about boys?”

“Not really,” Louis replies. They come to a stop at the tree where Zayn and Harry are and they all move to sit down. 

Niall shoves Liam hard. “I _told_ you I was normal!” she says indignantly.

“You’ve _never_ thought about boys, Tommo?” Liam asks, her voice incredulous.

Louis glances at her and shakes her head. “Nope,” she replies. “Am I supposed to?”

Liam laughs. The bitch. “Yeah,” she says. 

“Nah, see, you’ve got it wrong, Liam,” Niall starts. “Even I don’t think about _boys_. I think about _food_. What is so good about boys that isn’t better about food? Or pizza, even?” Thank god for Niall, Louis thinks.

She glances over at Harry who is watching them with curiosity. Even Zayn has closed over her sketchbook and has turned her attention onto their conversation.

“Well, a slice of pizza can’t kiss you, Niall,” Liam replies.

Niall snorts. “Mate, I don’t know about you but a slice of pizza is more amazing than some dumb boy is.” 

“I’m with Niall,” Louis says. “I’d much prefer a slice of pizza.”

“Zayn?” Liam prompts, turning her gaze onto Zayn.

She shrugs. “I prefer drawing, to be honest.” 

“So I’m the _only_ one who likes boys?” Liam asks, sounding exasperated.

“You haven’t asked Harry,” Louis’ mouth says before she’s even registered what she’s saying. Harry’s eyes widen and she pales a little.

“I’m thirteen?” she says softly. “I don’t…”

“See, even Harry doesn’t like boys,” Louis interjects. “You’re the weird one, Payno.” Harry gives her a small, grateful look and Louis winks at her in response. 

“How’d this conversation come about, anyway?” Zayn asks a moment later. “I thought you were supposed to be training for your footie match tomorrow?”

“We are,” Niall replies. She moves Zayn’s sketchbook out of the way and flops herself onto Zayn’s lap. She picks up Zayn’s hand and plops it onto her head. Zayn’s fingers immediately start scratching at Niall’s scalp and it makes Louis smile. She has the bestest friends ever, she thinks. 

“We’re meant to be doing drills, actually,” Liam adds. “But I was telling Lou and Niall that Ruth has a date with a boy and that’s how we got talking about it. I mean, I think Bradley is cute. From Geography. Don’t you think he’s cute?”

“Bradley?” Zayn repeats and Liam nods. “The one with the crooked nose?” 

Liam flushes and looks down at her hands which are folded in her lap. Niall reaches up and swats at Zayn’s arm. 

“Bradley’s alright,” Niall says. “Still not better than a slice of pizza, though.”

They all laugh at that and Niall just grins at them from her spot against Zayn. 

“We’d better get back to it, girls,” Louis says after a few more minutes of chatter. 

Zayn and Harry volunteer to join in. It makes their scrap matches better, Louis thinks. They all play hard, tackling each other for laughs and trying to get the ball passed Niall for a goal. It ends up with every single one of them sweaty and laughing, much like every other time. 

They go out for pizza afterwards, despite the fact that they all probably smell really sweaty and have dirt caked under their fingernails and on their palms.

Niall moans as she takes her first bite of pizza and she looks pointedly in Liam’s direction. “I tell you now,” she starts through her mouthful. “That there is _nothing_ on this earth that is better than pizza.”

“When you get your first boyfriend, I’m going to remind you of that,” Liam replies, her tone matter of fact.

Niall just takes another big bite in response. Louis agrees with Niall, there’s almost nothing that is better than pizza. The only thing that is better is currently pressed into Louis’ side as she eats her own slice, chewing away happily, her head bobbing along to whatever song is playing in her mind.

“I still say that pizza is better,” Zayn adds. “Boys come and go, pizza is for life.”

“Here, here!” Niall and Louis cheer loudly. Niall laughs and picks up another slice, stuffing it into her mouth.

On the walk to Harry’s house after the girls all part ways, Harry’s arm bumps into Louis’ a few times until Louis just takes Harry’s hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. They walk silently for a little while longer before Harry clears her throat, a tell-tale sign that she wants to say something important. Louis gives Harry her full attention.

“Do you really think pizza is better than boys?” Harry asks, her voice a little quiet.

“Yeah, of course,” Louis replies. “Nothing is going to change that. Pizza is like my third favourite thing ever.”

“Only your third favourite?” Harry asks, looking up at Louis curiously.

Louis nods. “Yeah, it goes you, mum, then pizza,” she replies, making hand motions to show that Harry is the one on top of that list.

“You like me more than your mum?” Harry asks as they turn into Harry’s house. They head inside and straight up to Harry’s bedroom. Louis dumps her bag on the floor like she has many, many other times and she sprawls on the floor, unwilling to get Harry’s bedspread dirty from her clothes. 

“Well, you _are_ my best friend,” Louis says, continuing their conversation now they are in the privacy of Harry’s bedroom. Harry shifts so that she is lying down, her head in Louis’ lap. Louis immediately cards her fingers through Harry’s hair, tugging on her curls gently, pulling them out just to see them spring back into place.

“You’re my best friend too,” Harry says softly, looking up at Louis.

Louis beams down at her. “Good,” she replies. “I’d hate to have to kill someone off just to take my rightful place.”

Harry giggles and covers her face with her hands. The noise makes Louis’ stomach flutter happily. “Hey, Lou?” she asks a little seriously a moment later. 

“Yeah?”

“I like you more than pizza too,” Harry says. “And even more than Mum. More than Gemma too.”

“What about more than Dusty?” Louis asks, raising an eyebrow at Harry.

Harry bites her lip and she looks like she’s concentrating for a few long moments before she nods. “Yeah,” she starts. “More than Dusty, too.”

Louis grins. “Good,” she says, pride swelling in her chest.

“Hey, Lou?”

“Mmm?” Louis mumbles, taking a few strands of Harry’s hair to plait into tiny plaits. 

“Do you think it’s okay to not like boys at all?” Harry asks. 

“Of course,” Louis replies easily. She reaches over to the top of Harry’s bedside table and plucks a small, clear elastic band off the top to tie the end of her plait. 

“No,” Harry continues, her voice a little shaky. “I mean. Like. Not want to date boys?”

Louis blinks down at Harry. “Sure,” she replies. “I don’t think Niall is ever going to date boys. She is too in love with pizza.”

Harry huffs and sits up, turning her entire body to face Louis. “I mean. What if I don’t ever like boys that way? The way girls do on the telly and in movies?”

Louis patiently waits for Harry to keep speaking, years of friendship having taught her that sometimes Harry takes a while to get out the things that she wants to say. 

“What if I don’t want a Peter Parker?” Harry continues. “What if I want a Mary Jane over Peter Parker?”

“Um, I think that’s okay,” Louis replies.

“Yeah?” Harry wonders, her gaze settling on Louis, desperately seeking her approval.

“Of course,” Louis says with a nod. “I don’t think I want a Peter Parker, either. I mean, he’s great and all but Mary Jane is so much cooler. And she’s really pretty.”

Harry beams at her, looking at her like she’s just made all of her dreams come true. The next second, Louis has a lap full of Harry and Harry’s arms wrapping tightly around her neck. She squeezes Louis tightly and lets out a small sob. Louis pats her back, stroking in a downward motion that she hopes is soothing. 

“Thank you,” Harry says when she pulls back. “I have been so scared to tell you.”

“You have?” Louis asks.

Harry nods shyly. “I didn’t know how you’d react,” she replies. “I’ve been reading a lot of coming out stories online and I didn’t know if you’d hate me if I told you that I think I’m gay or if you’d be okay with it, or that you wouldn’t want to be friends anymore.”

“I’m always going to want to be your friend,” Louis says passionately. She turns to face Harry a little better, their knees pressing together where they sit on the carpeted floor of Harry’s room. “I’d never stop being your friend just because you like girls over boys.”

“I know,” Harry replies. “I was just scared. I haven’t even told Mum yet.”

Louis reaches over and takes Harry’s hands in hers, squeezing them gently. “You’re the first person I’ve told as well.”

“What made you think you like girls?”

The question stumps Louis. On one hand, she could tell Harry that she gets this weird fluttery feeling in her stomach whenever she thinks of Harry, or she could stick with the Mary Jane route and say that she fell in love with a comic book character but she doesn’t want to lie to Harry, either. Best friends don’t lie to each other. 

“Umm,” Louis mumbles, unable to get the words out. “I guess I like a girl?” she starts.

Harry’s expression changes. “Do I know her?” she asks.

Louis nods. “Yeah, I think you do,” she replies. “What about you?” she asks, desperate to change the subject.

“I like you,” Harry says.

Louis’ entire world stops. “Huh?” she asks, despite knowing exactly what Harry has said. Her brain is having a hard time catching up and Harry’s eyes are wide, like she didn’t know her mouth was going to say that.

“I like you?” Harry repeats, sounding a little uncertain.

“Like. Um… Like Peter and Mary?” Harry nods. Louis breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god,” she blurts out. “Me too.”

Harry blinks up at her, her eyes impossibly wide. “Really? You’re not just saying that?”

Louis shakes her head. “Of course not,” she says honestly. “I’d never lie to you.”

Harry beams at her and she throws her arms around Louis’ neck in a tight hug. “So, what does this mean?” she asks when she pulls back.

The fluttering in Louis’ has increased tenfold and Harry takes one of Louis’ hands in hers, lacing their fingers together. “We can hold hands, I guess?”

“We did that anyway,” Harry replies.

“Umm, kiss?”

Harry grins and nods. She leans closer and presses her lips softly against Louis’ own. The pressure is nice and Harry’s lips are smooth, Louis thinks. It’s just their lips pressing against each other’s but it’s still the best thing that Louis has ever experienced in her entire fifteen years of being alive. They part and Harry looks at Louis. Her eyes are sparkling, radiating happiness, even. It draws Louis in so she presses her lips against Harry’s once more in a dry kiss. Harry is wonderful to kiss, Louis thinks. They stay there for a few more moments, just pressing their lips together, both probably too scared to kiss like they have seen people do in the movies, but this is nice. This is fitting for them, Louis thinks. 

“That was nice,” Harry says softly. “Does this mean we’re girlfriends?”

Louis nods. “Yeah,” she replies, unable to stop smiling. “I’d say that we are.”

Harry smiles brightly at her again and lays her head to rest on Louis’ shoulder. Even though things aren’t really different between them already, Louis’ stomach still flutters, like butterfly wings beating against her insides. She glances over at Harry, who seems content to just be curled against Louis, staring at their joined hands. She isn’t entirely sure what being girlfriends actually means but Harry is the person that she absolutely doesn’t mind finding it all out with.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this was alright. I'm still worried about it.
> 
> You can also find me here on [tumblr](http://star55.tumblr.com) and here on [twitter](https://twitter.com/Star_55) if you like. ♥


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